When a mobile station often referred to as user equipment is activated by a user, the mobile station typically registers with a wireless communication system. Registration is a process by which the mobile station notifies the wireless communication system of, among other things, a location, status, and identification of the mobile station. As part of the registration process, a mobile station operating in a slotted mode further provides a slot cycle parameter, so that the wireless communication system can determine which paging channel or forward common control channel slots are being monitored by the mobile station, and a protocol revision number, so that the wireless communication system knows the capabilities of the mobile station.
When a wireless communication system requires to inform mobile stations in one or more zones of an important message (such as an emergency alert) a dedicated emergency channel could be used to broadcast the important message the mobile stations. However, this would require that the mobile stations to keep monitoring the dedicated emergency channel and therefore battery drain could be an issue. Another approach could be for the system to sequentially call each of the mobile stations, however, this approach is inefficient and slow may not be appropriate if the important message has to be received expediently by all the mobile stations.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.